Thanksgiving Ideas

Hello and happy almost Thanksgiving.  Today's post is focused on Thanksgiving and will hopefully give you some easy ideas to implement in your classroom this week or next week.

One of my favorite things to do around Thanksgiving time is "Pilgrim Day."  Students learn about what life was like long ago.    We begin by reading a lot of books (click HERE to check out my book list on Amazon: commissionable link) and do the sort and cut/paste shown below.

We make butter, practice writing on "slates" aka chalkboards, we "hunt and gather," play Pilgrim games, and read riddles.  

We learn about the jobs Pilgrim boys and Pilgrim girls had.  We color and read the mini book shown below.

We love making Caitlin Clabby's pilgrim craft.  So cute! 

On the day before break, we watch "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" (commissionable link to Amazon) and have a traditional Snoopy feast.  

Of course there is always a festive coloring page and possibly a coloring contest the week of Thanksgiving!

This Thanksgiving Story Bracelet is fun.  It's from Fluttering Through First Grade.  The best part?  It's a freebie!

The kids love writing thankful notes to their friends and family members.  I like to read "The Thankful Book" by Todd Parr prior to writing the notes.

We play "I Have Who Has: Thanksgiving" during Morning Meeting.

There is always a turkey craft!  The first one below is from Crafty B. Creations.  The paper plate turkey was something new I did this year.  It took a bit of time but they turned out really cute.

One year I brought in chocolate cupcakes for the kids to ice and decorate.  

Depending on where we are in our Math curriculum, we do this Related Facts sort & recording page.

We love writing sentences with these "Cut, Glue, Write" pages.  There are several pages to choose from and kids love picking out their own pictures to write their sentences about.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

xo

Megan 

Thanksgiving Ideas

Hi, friends!  

It has been a while since I've posted.  I was in a good groove but then the end of the quarter, report cards, conferences, and prep for the possibility of remote teaching came up (hurry and train your first graders on how to log into a laptop, log into Clever, use Seesaw, Epic, Prodigy, Xtra Math, you name it...in 5 days.  Also in 5 days, please prep a bag full of everything your kids will need just in case we would get notified about going remote during Thanksgiving break.  No biggie.)    

I am SO relieved that I am officially on Thanksgiving break and am off for the next 9 days.  Never have I felt so thrilled about doing nothing.  *Except for the fact that I am not thrilled about no Thanksgiving dinner with my family this year.  So heartbreaking.

I hope you are surviving these times.  Just know that you are doing the best you can and that's ENOUGH!  Today's post will hopefully make your upcoming week a bit easier (that is, if you still have to work 1-3 days).  I'm sharing a few of my favorite Thanksgiving ideas with you.  

The first is this turkey craft.  Grab it HERE. 

The Thankful Book by Todd Parr is cute and then we write "thankful notes" to each other.  The notes are ones I made and are not available.  You could just use regular writing paper or a letter-writing template.  Grab the book at the end of the post (affiliate link).

These Thanksgiving story bracelets are fun to make.  Click HERE to grab the printables.  Grab the bead box at the end of the post.

These pilgrim kids are my favorite craft of the year!  I shed a tear because I didn't have time to do them with my class this year...thanks to spending my entire week on laptop setup and distribution (eyeroll).  Grab them HERE.  

Who doesn't love a free coloring page?  Grab these HERE. 

A favorite November tradition of mine is to host a "Charlie Brown Thanksgiving feast," where I "serve" the foods the characters in the movie had!  The kids LOVE this every year!!!  And YES-I bring my toaster in!  Affiliate link to DVD at the end of this post.

We spend time in November learning about life in the past.  Grab this sort/recording sheet HERE.  I've also linked two of my favorite books, which showcase what life was like long ago, at the end of this post (affiliate link).

"Pilgrim Day" is a great way for kids to experience what life was like in the past.  Although we didn't have time to do it this year, it's one of my favorite parts of teaching in November!  Click HERE to check out my best-selling pack. 

Usually around this time, we are learning about related facts/fact families in Math.  This related fact sort is a lot of fun for kids!  Click HERE to grab this activity.

xo

Megan